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Route 36 project enters design phase
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Posted on Aug 02 2011
The Department of Public Works awarded last month to Duenas & Associates the engineering design contract for the construction of Route 36.
Highway manager Nono Bostre said yesterday that the $704,582 contract, which received the approval of the Federal Highway Administration, was finalized on June 20, with the notice-to-proceed given to the contractor on July 7.
The project, Bostre said, involves the construction of an almost three-mile, two-lane road from “somewhere in Kingfisher all the way to Bird Island.”
“The contractor will prepare the engineering design for the Route 36 project. They will come up with construction plans, documents, everything in order to construct the roadway,” Bostre told Saipan Tribune.
According to Bostre, Duenas & Associates already started surveying the area.
The timeline for the design is approximately eight months.
DPW Secretary Martin Sablan, in a separate interview, said the project would also involve the construction of two separate bridge sections along the route.
“We will also try to improve the viewing area of the Bird Island and try to include it in the project,” he added.
While they have already set aside funding for the actual road construction project, Sablan noted that they are “not sure whether or not it’s enough.”
“We still have to look at the final design,” he said.
Road construction projects, Sablan said, typically takes about a year to finish.
“With the bridge sections, it might take longer. But we’re moving forward on this project,” added Sablan.
